The present invention relates to a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus of a thin-film laminate. More particularly, the invention relates to a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus of a thin-film laminate for manufacturing a thin-film laminate such as a multi-layer circuit board by laminating thin-film sheets made of a ceramic material having conductor patterns printed on the surface thereof.
As a manufacturing method of a thin-film laminate for manufacturing a thin-film laminate such as a substrate for LSI package, a multi-layer board or a laminated capacitor (chip capacitor), there is conventionally available a manufacturing method for manufacturing a thin-film laminate, comprising the steps of forming continuously green sheets (raw ceramic sheets) by a method known as the tape forming method on the surface of a flexible strip-shaped substrate called a carrier film piece, cutting the resultant green sheets into a prescribed size, forming a conductive pattern on each sheet by pattern printing or the like, and pressing and laminating the individual sheets, thereby manufacturing a thin-film laminate.
The aforementioned green sheet expands, contract or deforms shortly after peeling thereof from the carrier film piece, and should therefore preferably be integrated with the carrier film piece until immediately before lamination. Therefore, it is the conventional practice to cut the green sheets and the carrier film piece integrally into a prescribed size, and repeat the operating cycle of pressing the green sheets and separating the carrier films, thereby manufacturing a thin-film laminate.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 17, a two-layer sheet piece Nxe2x80x2, having a prescribed size, prepared by integrally cutting a green sheet bearing a conductive pattern printed thereon (hereinafter referred to as a xe2x80x9cconductive sheetxe2x80x9d) Gxe2x80x2 and a carrier film piece Fxe2x80x2 is placed on a green sheet (hereinafter referred to as a xe2x80x9cdummy sheetxe2x80x9d) not bearing a conductive pattern printed thereon previously laminated on the laminating base 101 so that the conductive sheet Gxe2x80x2 comes into contact with the dummy sheet Dxe2x80x2, and the resultant laminate is pressed (refer to FIG. 17(a)). Then, lamination of a single conductive sheet Gxe2x80x2 is completed by peeling off the carrier film piece Fxe2x80x2 by sticking, for example, an adhesive tape (refer to FIG. 17(b)). A thin-film laminate is manufactured by laminating a prescribed number of conductive sheets Gxe2x80x2 in this manner. In this manufacturing method, positioning for lamination is carried out by fitting pin holes 102 and 102 formed in the two-layer sheet piece Nxe2x80x2 onto pins 103 and 103 provided at positions corresponding to the pin holes 102 and 102 on the laminating base 101.
The above-mentioned manufacturing method of a thin-film laminate as described above has the following problems:
(1) It takes much time to carry out the operation of peeling off the carrier film piece Fxe2x80x2 by means of an adhesive tape, and it is necessary to replace an adhesive having a reduced adhesion, resulting in a very low productivity.
(2) The conductive sheet Gxe2x80x2 is pressed under a considerable pressure to prevent the conductive sheet Gxe2x80x2 from peeling off together with the carrier film piece Fxe2x80x2 during stripping. The conductive sheets Gxe2x80x2 already laminated through repeated pressing is deformed.
(3) Positioning by means of the pin hole 102 and the pin 103 causes a shift of laminating position by an allowable difference between the pin hole 102 and the pin 103.
For the purpose of solving these problems in the conventional art, for example, a manufacturing apparatus of a thin-film laminate as shown in FIG. 18 is proposed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. 10-284346. This manufacturing apparatus Jxe2x80x2 is based on a process comprising the steps of setting a carrier film Fxe2x80x2, on the surface of which conductive sheets Gxe2x80x2 bearing conductive patterns printed at prescribed intervals are continuously formed in a delivery unit 101; paying off the carrier film Fxe2x80x2 from the delivery unit 101; sending the same by means of a rollers group 102 to a cutting base 103 by a prescribed length; cutting the conductive sheets Gxe2x80x2 to a prescribed size by means of a sheet cutting-carrying head 104 on the cutting base 103; holding by sucking each of the cut conductive sheets Gxe2x80x2 by means of the cutting-carrying head 104 and transferring the same to above a laminating base 105; and forming a laminate Sxe2x80x2 by pressing and laminating a prescribed number of conductive sheets Gxe2x80x2 on the laminating base 105.
In this manufacturing apparatus Jxe2x80x2, a laminating position is determined by picking up an image of positioning marks printed at prescribed intervals at positions corresponding to the conductive patterns on the conductive sheets Gxe2x80x2 by means of a CCD pickup apparatus 106, and correcting the amount of transfer of the sheet cutting-carrying head 104 on the basis of the image thus picked up. The aforementioned problems are substantially solved by this manufacturing apparatus Jxe2x80x2. However, while this manufacturing apparatus Jxe2x80x2 is suitable for manufacturing a thin-film laminate bearing only a single kind of conductive pattern printed on the conductive sheets Gxe2x80x2 to be laminated, it involves a problem in that it is not suitable for manufacturing a thin-film laminate having 10 to 20 kinds of conductive patterns to be printed on the conductive sheets Gxe2x80x2 laminated as in a multi-layer substrate incorporated, for example, in a next-generation cellular phone. More specifically, in order to manufacture a thin-film laminate having even 10 to 20 kinds of conductive patterns in the manufacturing apparatus Jxe2x80x2, it is necessary to print 10 to 20 kinds of conductive patterns on the green sheets Gxe2x80x2 in the laminating sequence. The problem is that this leads to a very complicated printing operation.
The present invention was developed in view of these problems in the conventional art, and has an object to provide a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus of the thin-film laminate, which do not require any complicated printing operation of conductive patters, and permit a high-accuracy lamination of conductive sheets, even when there are various kinds of the conductive patters to be printed on laminated green sheets.
The manufacturing method of a thin-film laminate of the present invention is a method for manufacturing the thin-film laminate by sequentially laminating thin-film sheets having conductive patterns formed thereon, comprising the steps of:
housing thin-film sheets held by carrier films adjusted to a prescribed size in housing cases; and, in the middle of conveyance of the thin-film sheets in a state held by the carrier films and taken out from the housing case to a pressing and laminating position, stripping the thin-film sheets off the carrier films while conveying the same.
The manufacturing method of a thin-film laminate of the invention further comprises the steps of causing a carrier to hold the thin-film sheets, and causing a stripping member to penetrate into the boundary between the thin-film sheets and the carrier films, thereby to strip the thin-film sheets from the carrier films.
Moreover, in the manufacturing method of a thin-film laminate of the invention, it is desirable that the length of the carrier film in the conveying direction is longer than the thin-film sheet, and the increment portion of the length is projected in the conveying direction, and the stripping member is caused to penetrate into the boundary between the thin-film sheet and the carrier film while moving the stripping member along the projecting portion.
Further, the manufacturing method of a thin-film laminate of the invention may comprise the steps of forming an unnecessary portion integrally with the thin-film sheet of the portion projecting in the conveying direction of the carrier film; then, positioning the thin-film sheet at a prescribed position; forming a separating groove at the boundary with the unnecessary portion; and causing the stripping member to penetrate into the boundary between the thin-film sheet and the carrier film while moving the stripping member along the bottom of the separating groove.
Further, in the manufacturing method of a thin-film laminate of the invention, the separating groove may be formed during the conveyance of the thin-film sheet to the laminating position.
Further, in the manufacturing method of a thin-film laminate of the invention, separating grooves may be formed and housed in the housing cases.
Further, in the manufacturing method of a thin-film laminate of the invention, furthermore, the carry-in side of the stripping member should preferably take a knife-edge shape.
Further, in the manufacturing method of a thin-film laminate of the invention, it is desirable that the carrier film from which the conductive sheet has been stripped off is guided by the stripping member to the discharge side.
On the other hand, the manufacturing apparatus of a thin-film laminate of the invention is a manufacturing apparatus of a thin-film laminate by sequentially laminating thin-film sheets having conductive patterns formed thereon, comprising a housing means which houses carrier films adjusted to a prescribed size holding thin-film sheets; a carry-out means which takes out the thin-film sheets housed in the housing means in a state held by the carrier films and transfers the same to a prescribed position; a conveying means which conveys the thin-film sheets taken out by the carry-out means in a state held by the carrier films to a prescribed position; a stripping means which strips off the thin-film sheets conveyed to the prescribed position by the conveying means from the carrier films while conveying the same; and a pressing-laminating means which presses and laminates the thin-film sheets.
The manufacturing apparatus of a thin-film laminate of the invention preferably further comprises a positioning means.
Moreover, the manufacturing apparatus of a thin-film laminate of the invention may further comprise a separating groove forming means.
Further, the manufacturing apparatus of a thin-film laminate of the invention may comprise the stripping means having a carrier which carries the thin-film sheets, and a stripping-guiding plate; wherein the thin-film sheets are stripped off from the carrier films by causing the carry-in side of the stripping-guiding plate to penetrate into the boundary between the thin-film sheets and the carrier films; and the carrier films are guided by the discharge side of the stripping-guiding plate to the discharge side.
Further, in the manufacturing apparatus of a thin-film laminate of the invention, the carry-in side of the stripping-guiding plate is preferably formed into a knife-edge shape.
Since the present invention provides the configuration as described above, the printing operation of conductive pattern does not become complicated even when manufacturing a thin-film laminate bearing many kinds of conductive patterns printed on the thin-film sheets to be pressed and laminated. Stripping of the thin-film sheets from the carrier films are accomplished in the middle of transfer to the pressing-laminating position. Pressing and lamination of the thin-film sheets can therefore be carried out efficiently.